Rape Victim Sues Wpb, Police Over Search

July 21, 1992|By STEPHANIE SMITH, Staff Writer

A rape victim who was sexually molested and forced to pose for nude photographs by the investigating police detective sued West Palm Beach and its police department on Monday on charges of violating her constitutional rights.

In February 1990, a man broke into the Haitian woman`s home and raped her at gunpoint while her two children were asleep, police said.

Former West Palm Beach police Detective Jorge Hernandez, saying it was necessary for the investigation, had the woman disrobe both at her home and in an office at the police station, the lawsuit says.

After the woman was examined for rape at a hospital, Hernandez took her back to the police station and told her the doctor had forgotten ``a finger exam`` and performed it himself, the suit says. Hernandez also took four nude photographs of her.

The woman was unfamiliar with U.S. police procedures and obeyed Hernandez, but complained to her boyfriend and her employer about what Hernandez had required her to do, according to the lawsuit.

On July 2, 1990, Hernandez pleaded guilty to sexual battery of the woman and was fired by the department. The police investigation of Hernandez included having the woman wear a body microphone and recording Hernandez`s promise to destroy the photographs.

West Palm Beach police did not return a phone message asking for comment on the suit.

The woman is represented by attorney Richard Lubin on behalf of the American Civil Liberties Union. She is seeking more than $15,000 in compensatory damages.

The lawsuit filed in Palm Beach County Circuit Court also names Police Chief Billy Riggs and Hernandez. The police department has been on notice since 1986 about police harassment of Haitian natives, the suit says.

Hernandez was one of the officers who was named in the earlier suit alleging police persecution of Haitians that included illegal strip searches and arrests of Haitians, the suit says.